News tagged with air
Company offers first independently controlled auto A/C system
(Phys.org) -- Automobile air conditioner maker Denso Corporation has announced a first for cars, an air conditioning system that allows for true independent heating and cooling of driver, passenger and back seat areas, resulting ...
May 04, 2012 |
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New research may explain why serious thunderstorms and tornados are less prevalent on the weekends
(PhysOrg.com) -- For much of the last century, people in parts of the United States have come to notice that just as they got the weekends off to relax, so too did it seem, did serious weather. Big booming ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 22, 2011 |
4.3 / 5 (16) |
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Rising air pollution worsens drought, flooding, study shows
Increases in air pollution and other particulate matter in the atmosphere can strongly affect cloud development in ways that reduce precipitation in dry regions or seasons, while increasing rain, snowfall ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 13, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (9) |
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Silver and white cars are cooler, says study
(PhysOrg.com) -- From an environment standpoint, silver and white cars are cool; black cars are not. Researchers at the Berkeley Lab Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) say that the color of ...
Technology / Energy & Green Tech
Oct 25, 2011 |
3.3 / 5 (8) |
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SpaceX readies ambitious ISS launch
California-based company SpaceX was poised to launch its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station Saturday in what may be a historic mission for private spaceflight.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 18, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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SpaceX poised for high-stakes space station launch
SpaceX on Saturday aims to become the first private company to send its own cargo ship to the International Space Station, a feat that only a handful of world governments have pulled off.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 17, 2012 |
5 / 5 (5) |
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Space shuttle arrives in NYC; crowds watch in awe (Update)
(AP) -- In a city understandably wary of low-flying aircraft, New Yorkers and tourists alike watched with joy and excitement Friday as space shuttle Enterprise sailed over the skyline on its final flight ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 27, 2012 |
not rated yet |
4
SpaceX plans historic first flight on May 7
SpaceX confirmed it plans to launch a rocket and capsule on May 7 in a historic first flight of a private spaceship to the International Space Station.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 25, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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Dutch 'flying car' takes to the skies
Is it a flying car or a driving aircraft? Either way, the Personal Air and Land Vehicle, or PAL-V for short, has just proved it can handle the skies as well as the highway, both at up to 180 kilometres (112 ...
Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation
Apr 03, 2012 |
4.3 / 5 (11) |
8
Fertilizer use responsible for increase in nitrous oxide in atmosphere
University of California, Berkeley, chemists have found a smoking gun proving that increased fertilizer use over the past 50 years is responsible for a dramatic rise in atmospheric nitrous oxide, which is a major greenhouse ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 02, 2012 |
4.1 / 5 (9) |
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Rare supercell thunderstorm in Hawaii produces record size hailstone
(PhysOrg.com) -- A March 9 thunderstorm that struck the island of Oahu produced unusually large hailstones, one of which measured over four inches long, a record for the state which rarely sees hail at all. ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 27, 2012 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
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Delicate rescue saves stranded $1.7B US satellite
Air Force ground controllers delicately rescued a $1.7 billion military communications satellite last year that had been stranded in the wrong orbit and at risk of blowing up - all possibly because a piece ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 17, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (9) |
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Future NASA mission to sun 'a life's dream' for some
The chest-high rack of electronics Justin Kasper is assembling in a Massachusetts office park will fit in a shoe box before he's done.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 16, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (24) |
10
Natural levels of nitrogen in tropical forests may increase vulnerability to pollution
(PhysOrg.com) -- Waterways in remote, pristine tropical forests located in the Caribbean and Central America contain levels of nitrogen comparable to amounts found in streams and rivers flowing through polluted forests in ...
Mar 06, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Catalyser for clean rainforest air
(PhysOrg.com) -- The atmosphere’s robust capacity to clean itself is owed to the consistent recycling of its cleaning agent. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz have now clarified ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 01, 2012 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
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Earth's atmosphere
The Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by the Earth's gravity. It has a mass of about five quadrillion metric tons. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1%. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night.
There is no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. It slowly becomes thinner and fades into space. An altitude of 120 km (75 mi) marks the boundary where atmospheric effects become noticeable during atmospheric reentry. The Kármán line, at 100 km (62 mi), is also frequently regarded as the boundary between atmosphere and outer space. Three quarters of the atmosphere's mass is within 11 km (6.8 mi; 36,000 ft) of the surface.
For more information about Earth's atmosphere, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
